Abstract

Food poisoning remains a significant public health concern, particularly in developing countries, where it contributes to high morbidity and mortality rates. Nurses play a pivotal role in the management of food poisoning cases, yet they often face challenges that hinder optimal patient outcomes. This study assessed the knowledge, challenges, and best practices of nurses in managing food poisoning cases at the Muea Sub-Divisional Hospital in Buea, Cameroon.

A cross-sectional design was employed, with data collected from 40 nurses using structured questionnaires. Findings revealed that 90% of nurses were highly familiar with food poisoning symptoms, such as diarrhea (30%) and abdominal cramps (25%). However, diagnostic reliance on physical examinations (50%) over laboratory tests (27.5%) highlighted resource limitations.

Major challenges included ambiguous symptoms (37.5%), inadequate medical supplies (47.5%), and lack of clear protocols (45%). Best practices included patient education on food safety (50%) and IV fluid administration (42.5%), though gaps in follow-up dietary advice (15%) were noted. The study emphasizes the need for enhanced training, improved resources, and standardized protocols to strengthen nurses’ capacity in managing food poisoning.

Community-based education programs and interdisciplinary collaboration are recommended to mitigate challenges and improve prevention efforts. Further research should explore comparative studies across regions and healthcare settings to validate and expand these findings.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Food poisoning means an illness that’s resulting from the ingestion of food through contamination of microbial or non-microbial (Rajesh 2017). Food poisoning is also known as foodborne illness, which is caused by consuming contaminated food. The reasons behind the food poisoning are microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, parasites, and toxins, which are produced infection on the food (Sowjanya and Aliyah 2016). Food poisoning is linked directly or indirectly with infectious agents, which are spread through the fecal-oral route, on contaminated hands, or in contaminated food and water, which results causing a serious problem in humans.

The clinical features of foodborne infection are dependent on the pathogenic mechanisms involved (Anant et al., 2018). The condition of food poisoning is characterized by (a) the attack of many persons at the same time, (b) history of ingestion of common food, and (c) similarity of signs and symptoms in the majority of cases (Park, 2017).

Globally it is estimated that poisoning events are responsible for more than one million illnesses annually (Malangu and Ogunbanjo 2009).The reason behind increasing food poisoning is due to people cooking several meals in advance and freezing them for a longer period or buying food that is only put in a microwave oven (Parashnath and Indranil, 2016).

Headache, giddiness, colicky pain, cold and clammy skin, intense thirst, acute vomiting, diarrhea, slow pulse, rigors, and cramps are the symptoms seen in humans, which are caused by food poisoning (Anant et al., 2018).

According to World Health Organization, 1.8 million populations death n 2005 due to contamination in drinking water and food (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). The leading source of foodborne diseases is bacteria (66%), chemicals (26%), parasites (4%), and viruses (4%). Infection and intoxication are most the common types of foodborne illnesses. Intoxication occurs when food poisoning pathogen produced toxin in contrast, infection occurs due to the presence of diseases in the food (Adams and Moss, 2008; Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2011). Viruses are the most common pathogens, which are transmitted through food, for example, viruses cause 66.6% of food-related illnesses in the United States (Mead et al., 2015).

It has been observed that there is an increasing rate of food poisoning recent years About 20 million worldwide reported including 11 million found in Africa and 1 million cases in Cameroon by year 2003. 1.2 million cases have been reported in Cameroon attributed to various origins: chemicals, microorganisms, excess alcohol etc. The most commonly reported cases are caused by Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria and pesticides.

Most cases happened accidently (when ingesting contaminated food manipulating pesticides or unconsciously after eating food). In South-West Region of Cameroon, food mostly involved with poisoning are meat, dairy products, poultry, cooked food such as achu, garri, rice and egusi soup, fufu and djamajama, water fufu and eru and some ready-to-eat food. The chemical food poisoning cases were reported occurring when food is contaminated by chemicals such as pesticides and preservatives.

There is a growing number of pesticide uses in rural and urban areas but knowledge on safety measures among users remains poor. Risk factors such as Poor handling, spraying, and product quality and disposal methods of chemicals have risen in Cameroon. They have led to poisoning cases. Furthermore, poor hygienic practices during cooking can be pointed out since poisoning from microbiological source is considered to be very frequent in Africa.

These factors affect different social groups such as farmers, children, students who are reported in hospitals or not depending on the transportation and financial means, gravity of the case and promptitude of family members. In the last decades, the epidemiology of foodborne diseases is changing with new or unexpected pathogens often emerging on a countrywide or worldwide scale, new foods expanding the range of potential vehicles of pathogens, wider social contexts being involved and new classes of individual being at higher risk.

These changes may be attributable to several socio-economic and demographic factors, changes in primary production, processing, distribution and handling of food and the increasing exposure of individuals, like elderly, patients with impaired immunity and many hospitalized subject.

1.2 Problem statement

Food poisoning is a critical problem in most developing countries and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Poisoning affects patient’s condition quickly and patient’s life can be endangered if there is a delay in initiating urgent treatment. Food poisons may immediately affect a patient’s condition, and any delays in the provision of essential emergency medical treatment endanger the patient’s life.

According to WHO an estimated 600 Million people fall ill each year due to food poisoning with 420,000 deaths. According to records books from the four public hospitals, between 2010 and 2014, food poisoning was varying between 12 and 26%. The least record was obtained in 2014 (12%) while the highest number was registered in 2011 (26%) while records realized in 2012, 2013 and 2010 were closer (17; 21 and 24% respectively).

These figures also show the situations where patients were admitted or not according to the severity of the case. Thus, among 252 cases recorded, 53% were not admitted while 47% were admitted in the hospitals for at least two days. It is important to note that patients who were not admitted may be due to the death of the patients or quick mastering of the case.

Among them, 75% recovered and returned to their respective houses while 25% died. Statistics did not show any significance differences of symptoms amongst years. Symptoms met among food poisoned patients were varying and the most observed were: vomiting (29%), Diarrhea (20%), stomachache (15%), cough (10%) and headache (8%). Other symptoms presented by patients were: nausea, cramp, fatigue and others such as mouth and skin irritations, sweating and blurred eyes.

During my voluntary internship at the Muea Sub-divisional Hospital Buea, i noticed a lot of cases who were admitted and referred were Food poisoning cases and despite the nurses crucial role in the management of food poisoning patients , nurses often face challenges in effectively managing of patients with complex food poisoning cases due to factors like high patient volume, limited time , inadequate staffing , and lack of comprehensive training , leading to potential gaps in care and patient outcomes so this is a serious problem that needs solutions but very limited work had been done in this area as concerns research.

That’s why following the above observations I was provoked to carry out this study on the role of nurses in the management of food poisoning cases, challenges and best practices to reduce the knowledge vacuum or gaps.

1.3 Research Questions

1. What knowledge do nurses at the Sub-Divisional Hospital Muea possess regarding the management of food poisoning cases, and how does it influence patient care?
2. What challenges do nurses face in applying their knowledge to diagnose, treat, and prevent food poisoning cases at the Sub-Divisional Hospital Muea?
3. What evidence-based best practices can nurses implement to improve the outcomes of patients with food poisoning while minimizing the risk of outbreaks?

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